The identity crisis facing Birmingham’s Digbeth

Unlike when Sean T Smith grew up in the city, Digbeth has become a scene for craft beer and vintage clothes – but even that is now at risk as the mainstream smells money

Digbeth has been officially ‘happening’ for quite some time now (Getty)

All eyes have been on Birmingham for the last few weeks, as it hosted the Commonwealth Games – with residents really embracing the sporting contest. It has also given visitors and viewers alike a sense of a number of areas around the surrounding region, and inspired many to take a proper look at the rest of the second city (although Manchester might have something to say about that particular moniker).

In its industrial prime when Birmingham was “the city of a thousand trades”, Digbeth, in the east of the city, was a workshop to the world. Now it’s home to the city’s hip creative quarter. With its central location and wealth of handsomely distressed warehouses, factories and archways, Digbeth was always going to be ripe for development. The prospect of a high-speed rail connection to the capital is simply accelerating that process.

As an Irish ward in the inner city – that’s also set to become another notch on  London’s commuter belt – it’s little wonder that Digbeth seems to be in the throes of an identity crisis.